


Winter's Eye

by i_would_live_for_tony_stark21



Series: Arc Reactor, Magic, Winter Ficlets [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Bucky Barnes, BAMF Tony Stark, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes-centric, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Not Steve Friendly, POV Bucky Barnes, POV JARVIS (Iron Man movies), POV Tony Stark, Pining, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Tony Stark, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tony Stark-centric, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_would_live_for_tony_stark21/pseuds/i_would_live_for_tony_stark21
Summary: HYDRA was weaponizing his helicarriers and Tony was pissed. He had already wiped out the Ten Rings. You would really think other terrorist groups would take note and not mess with his stuff; it was just self preservation at this point. Thank god Fury had had some sense to involve him, the very person that created the helicarriers, and could ground them before they even left the ground. The alternative, sending Captain America, the Black Widow, and a random member of the Air Force against the full force of Hydra, was not pleasant to consider.In a world where Tony Stark is involved in the first fight against HYDRA, he goes head to head with the Winter Soldier and is surprised to learn his identity. Tony tries to deescalate the fight and brings up Howard Stark’s friendship with Bucky Barnes. He is shocked by the revelation that the Winter Soldier killed him. The Soldier escapes the fight against Iron Man but can’t stop thinking about the encounter, especially because the man inside the suit, Tony Stark, has extensive surveillance out to find him. Wanting to learn more about the man pursuing him, the Soldier starts to surveil him back.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: Arc Reactor, Magic, Winter Ficlets [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1409191
Comments: 80
Kudos: 452





	1. Chapter 1

Tony hadn’t been blindsighted by the news about Project Insight. SHIELD at best had been a shadowy organization with no oversight. And unlike his fellow Avengers, he actually paid attention to the news and events relevant to them. He had heard about Fury’s (greatly exaggerated) death and the reappearance of the Winter Soldier. He knew about the missile that destroyed some random military bunker in New Jersey. And then he had found himself summoned by Hill to a warehouse where he had met an annoyed and injured, but alive, Fury. 

Fury had debriefed him on everything that was happening, Project Insight, Hydra, Pierce, the World Security Council. He got to work on permanently grounding the helicarriers before they could even take off from his phone. Then hours later Steve, Natasha, and some random civilian that had nothing to do with any of this showed up with Hill, all of them looking rough around the edges. And great, the civilian had some of his tech that he had lent the Air Force. 

Was there anybody that had his tech that was not misusing it somehow? Rogers had been upset that Fury had called in Tony, yelling, “You told me to not trust anyone! And you were right, yet you brought him in? We can’t even tell who is Hydra and who is SHIELD!”

“Yet you bought a complete stranger sporting my tech to the battle with you. How do you know he’s not Hydra?” Tony shot back. So much for Steve’s apology at the end of New York. 

“He’s not”, Steve spluttered. “Sam worked for the Air Force and he’s a counselor now and helps veterans.”

“So. How long have you known him for?”

“Three days but that’s not important! We needed someone outside of SHIELD that we knew wasn’t HYDRA.”

“Three whole days. Hey Fury, how long have you known Pierce? Steve, listen to yourself. There’s know way you could have known he wasn’t HYDRA? How did you even meet?”

“He’s not HYDRA! We met running in DC.”

“And I bet you run the same route every day. Wouldn’t be too hard to slip an undercover operative into you route.”

Fury interrupted, “Enough! Steve, you fucked up, end of discussion. By sheer luck Wilson seems to not be HYDRA. If he was, I’m sure the Winter Solider would already be here to finish the job.”

Steve turned incredibly pale at that. Fury continued, uncaring, “And besides, you motherfuckers are lucky. If Stark were HYDRA we’d be truly fucked. We wouldn’t even be here having this conversation right now. We’d be haphazardly using our backup plan to insert controller chips onto the flying helicarriers to ground them. Think of how many people use his tech. Half the population has Stark Phones. He used to make weapons and has the most advanced AIs on the planet. Do the math.”

Tony let out an affronted noise. “I resent that you even for a second thought that I could be HYDRA.”

“We’re getting off topic. We should be focusing on taking down HYDRA. What’s the status of the helicarriers? They’re set to launch in a few hours!”, Steve cut in.

“Calm down Spangles, they were already grounded an hour ago thanks to me. And Jarvis and I already created an algorithm to find the members of SHIELD that are most likely to be HYDRA.”

Steve looked even more consternated at that. “We need to warn all of SHIELD about HYDRA! Everyone doesn’t know yet!”

Tony and Hill shared a look of disbelief. Tony stole a glance at Fury, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world.

Natasha replied, using her gentle patient voice, “Steve, that might seem like a good idea now but it’s not a good idea to let Pierce know we’re onto him before the Council meeting. It would take away the information advantage we have.”

Hill chimed in, “We have a team vetted by Fury and I quietly dealing with the lower level suspected HYDRA agents.”

Natasha looked thoughtful, “This isn’t going to be kept a secret for long though, the public’s eventually going to get wind of it. Maybe Steve’s right. HYDRA can’t get much accomplished if everybody’s onto them. At the Council meeting, we should leak all of SHIELD’s files online so HYDRA can’t hide what they’ve done.”

Tony frowned. Fury was nodding in agreement but Hill wasn’t. Tony decided he wasn’t going to stand by idly as this happened. Fury may want a sudden windfall of information so nobody would look too closely at the more unsavory things SHIELD did and allow it to continue to exist. Natasha probably had similar reasons, her past work for the Red Room would not do her any favors in the eyes of the American public. 

“What about all the active SHIELD agents around the world? Their families? They would get burned if you did that. Let Jarvis handle it. He can devote his full attention to scanning through your files and protecting the identifying information of your agents.”

“Fine,” Fury replied. “Let’s talk about our game plan for the WSC meeting. Natasha, you’re going undercover as a council member. Captain, Hill, and I will be providing backup on site for the meeting. Falcon and Iron Man, you’re going to be outside to deal with any approaching threats. Iron Man, your job is to disable the Winter Soldier to the best of your ability when he shows up. 

“What!?” Steve exclaimed. Tony rolled his eyes. He did not miss working with this team. “I should be the one dealing with Bucky, he’s my friend! He recognized me on the bridge.”

Fury yelled, “I don’t care Rogers! That man may look like your friend but he is a HYDRA weapon. He’s been carrying out assassinations for the better part of 70 years and I don’t give a shit if he recognized you. You still got your asses handed to you by him or have you all conveniently forgot the past hour? Iron Man’s in charge of engaging the Winter Soldier. He’s better equipped to. End of discussion”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp here I am with a new fic idea. Tony is going to be sassy and tired of everybody's shit in this fic. He has never liked SHIELD since the whole Natashalie incident.
> 
> Steve is not a fan of Tony being in charge fighting Bucky, especially given that Zola told him and Nat the Winter Soldier killed the Starks. He would have been fine with Nat or Sam fighting him but not Tony.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody has seen Bucky’s face prior to Steve's fight with him. Steve was the first one to recognize him as Bucky, that's why Fury didn't believe him.

Fury unceremoniously kicked them out after that conversation, leaving Tony with more questions than answers. Maybe Rogers had finally gone off the deep end if he thought the Winter Soldier was his dead best friend. It had to hurt that the very organization he had believed in this century was the very terrorist group he tried to destroy a lifetime ago. Nobody had ever seen the Winter Soldier’s face and lived to tell over the better part of the past century, let alone captured him on camera, so Tony had know way of knowing if the Soldier had a passing resemblance to Barnes. 

Tony and Falcon were now inconspicuously posted up outside the building the WSC meeting was taking place in. Tony had opted for his stealth suit.

It seemed it was taking all of Sam’s self control to not fan girl over the suit. Sam kept bringing up how cool it was to meet Steve and Nat and Tony, real heroes, and how he had always wanted to be one and that’s why he had joined the Air Force. Despite Sam being overly enthusiastic, they managed to have a civil conversation including Sam actually apologizing for not letting Tony know about the unapproved use of the Falcon wings. It was then that Tony decided Sam Wilson was alright. He shouldn’t have been roped into all of this. 

Tony warned him, “I know you’re excited to be here but don’t blindly worship the Avengers. We’re just people, we make mistakes just like you. I’m glad you’re here now but Steve unnecessarily risked your life. You’ll always have a target on your back now. Think about your loved ones.”

Sam looked downcast after that, possibly finally considering the consequences of the past three adrenaline fueled days. There had been an awkwardly long silence so Tony decided to restart the conversation, hoping to distract Sam from things that could not be changed.

“So…what did Rogers mean when he was talking about Bucky?”

“I don’t even know man, Steve said the winter soldier was—Over there! That’s Rumlow”, Falcon exclaimed, leaping into the air and flying on a direct collision course with Rumlow. 

“Jarvis, it’s showtime, scan the surroundings for incoming hostiles, tap into the feeds of any satellites above us. It’s only a matter of time before the Winter Soldier shows up.”

Jarvis highlighted a figure hidden in the shadows and Tony flew over to confront him. He fired a repulsor blast at the now visible Winter Soldier, and was met with a barrage of bullets that dented his armor. 

The Winter Soldier started aiming his bullets with deadly precision at the thinner parts of the armor, getting in a few hits that damaged the seams and made the joints of the suit malfunction, despite the suit being a moving target. Tony got closer, firing off a series of repulsor blasts that only served to singe the Winter Soldier without actually slowing him down. Finally, Tony got a clear shot in and let a unibeam loose, directly hitting the Soldier square in the chest. He was pushed onto his back, but quickly regained his footing and charged at Tony. 

The Soldier switched tactics and forced Tony into vicious hand to hand contact, wailing on him with both his flesh and metal arm. The hits were powerful, denting parts of the armor and fast enough to force Tony onto the defensive. And almost quicker than the eye could see, the Winter Soldier alternated between punching and kicking the suit and stabbing into the already weakened seams of the suit. Tony could feel blood trickling out of the stab wounds. 

Tony managed to get a few punches in but he was panicking, he could barely land a hit on him and any damage he did manage was quickly shrugged off. It was like the Winter Soldier didn’t feel pain. And if he got further away, there was a chance that he’d lose the Winter Soldier. 

Suddenly, the Winter Soldier was leaping onto him, legs wrapped around his shoulders, and flipping his armor. Tony grabbed his metal arm and pulled with all the power of the suit, causing them both to fall forcefully onto the ground. 

There was an audible sound of metal grinding on metal whenever the soldier moved his metal arm. Tony internally cheered for shoddy engineering. His small victory was cut short when the Soldier jumped onto his back, attempting to choke him. Tony immediately took to the sky, twisting and turning and attempting to shake off the Winter Soldier. He finally managed to drop him and watched as the Winter Soldier fell face first into a tree, disappearing from view. 

Tony immediately flew back to the ground, scanning the surroundings for any sign of the Soldier. He was kicked in the back and went flying forward into a tree trunk. Tony barely managed to regain his footing before he was tackled to the ground and forced to grapple face to face with the Winter Soldier. Notably, the Winter Soldier’s mask had fallen off sometime during the scuffle. Tony was stunned for a second and the Soldier managed to get a headbutt in that made Tony see stars. Well shit, Rogers was right. The Winter Soldier was none other than James “Bucky” Barnes, it was unmistakable. 

Barnes must have survived the fall from the train and must have been captured by HYDRA. Tony felt nauseous, Barnes had to be the oldest living POW in history. Why was he fighting for HYDRA then? Why didn’t he remember who he was?

Barnes managed to get a few solid hits to his head before Tony, distracted by the identity reveal, managed to put his hands up and block the hits. Jarvis, however, had had enough of his creator being pummeled and fired the missiles in the suit at close range. 

Barnes was blasted back and laid on the ground, clutching his side.

Tony slowly approached him, hands up in a placating manner. Barnes snarled and pointed a gun at him. 

“I’m not going to hurt you. Do you remember who you are?”

Silence, as Barnes pushed himself to his feet and squared off. 

“James. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. Your friends called you Bucky. You served in World War 2 alongside your best friend Steve Rogers. You used to fight against HYDRA. With your team the Howling Commandos. Why are you fighting for them now?”

Barnes tried to hit him but Tony dodged the punch. 

“Do you remember anything about your past? You fell off a train during the war and everyone thought you were dead. You must have survived the fall due to the serum they injected you with when you were a prisoner of the Red Skull. HYDRA must have held onto you since. They must have done something to you. Is any of this ringing a bell?” 

“The Asset is wiped of memories. The Asset only remembers missions. Information outside of mission parameters is not given to the Asset,” he replied in a monotone voice. 

“What, who’s the asset?”

“I am the Asset,” he grunted, his hits getting sloppier. “Are you a new Handler? Is this a test?”

“No, James. I’m Tony Stark, Iron Man. I can help you, you wouldn’t have to fight for HYDRA anymore.”

Barnes finally stopped swinging. There had been a spark of something in his eyes at the name Stark so Tony continued, “Do you recognize the name Stark? It might be because you knew my father, Howard Stark. He used to talk on and on about you, that’s how I know so much about you. Do you remember him?”

Barnes pauses. “Starks? I killed them.”

Tony felt all the blood drain out of his face, he gasped out, “What?”

“December 16th, 1991.”

Tony fell to his knees and lets out a choked sob. This could not be happening. His parents had been murdered by HYDRA. Howard hadn’t killed his mother, a brainwashed James Buchanan Barnes apparently had. How did anybody not know? He came to a realization. SHIELD had to have known. They must have covered it up. Tears freely streaming now he looked towards the Winter Soldier/ Barnes, whoever the fuck he was.

The Winter Soldier looked back at him, bewildered, and showing the most emotion he had during the entire fight. Tony stood up and the Winter Soldier took a step back. Voice breaking, Tony asked, “Do you even remember who you killed?”

“I remember all of them,” the Winter Soldier replied, looking haunted. 

Tony shot another unibeam at him but this time the Soldier dodged, running past Tony towards the building. Tony let loose more repulsor blasts and the Soldier flipped, avoiding all of them. Suddenly, the Soldier stopped, just staring at him. 

Tony let the repulsors whine, gearing up for another blast, but his head and heart weren’t in the fight anymore. HYDRA and SHIELD were the same in his mind. He felt no loyalty to the organization that had killed his parents and damaged Barnes so thoroughly he was just a mindless weapon.

The Winter Soldier tensed at the noise, then took a few unsteady steps away from the building while grimacing. Clutching his head, the Soldier quickened his pace, sprinting away from the building and running off into the treeline. 

Well fuck. Tony let himself sink back to the ground as Jarvis worriedly asked if he was alright. The one thing he knew for sure was that neither he nor the Winter Soldier were alright. He needed a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was the fight scene? Bucky's POV next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Bucky POV

The Asset’s mission was to get past the man in the suit and the man with wings and kill the members of the World Security Council if his handler Pierce gave him the signal. This mission was so important that he hadn’t been wiped in that goddamned chair like he usually was when he started thinking too much for himself. The Asset usually tried to be compliant and not cause any trouble with his handlers but after the last mission, before he could stop himself, he had blurted out that he had known the man on the bridge to his handler. But Pierce was preoccupied with something else and uncharacteristically had let the comment slide.

The Asset didn’t know much. He was told he was the Asset. That didn’t seem right, but he accepted it because arguing meant getting put into the chair which scrambled his brain until he couldn’t even hear his own current thoughts, let alone remember the ones he was having before. Hydra had told him he was a weapon and that his purpose was to kill targets. He also accepted that he was the Asset because he didn’t know what else he could be. He didn’t know anyone at Hydra. His staff and handlers always changed. He wasn’t supposed to question, wasn’t supposed to think. Speak only when spoken to. He had gathered over the years that they expected that at baseline and anything outside of their expectations led to talks about adjusting his “conditioning”, whatever that was, which was shortly followed by a painful amnesia inducing time in the chair. 

Hydra had educated him enough on current events and technology to fit into his surroundings seamlessly and they did give him just enough information to complete his missions. But other than what was related to his missions, he knew and remembered nothing. Which was why when the man in the suit he was fighting started talking about HIM, he listened. He could still technically complete the mission and listen to the enemy. And if anybody was watching him, there was no doubt that he was carrying out the mission. The fight with the man in the suit so far had been brutal. 

But the man in the suit was no longer fighting him. Why wasn’t he fighting him? This was the second time somebody stopped fighting him even though it was dangerous not to fight him. The man on the bridge was the first. 

The man in the suit called him James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky. His head started to pound. It almost felt like he was in the chair even though he was nowhere close to the HYDRA base. He felt a growing urge to remember something. Something important. When he tried to focus on it, he couldn’t, blinding pain running through his head. What was he trying to remember? It was important but it was just out of his reach. 

He wanted the pain to stop. Why was this happening? He mindlessly started answering the man in the suit's questions, footwork sloppy, unable to focus on anything other than the searing pain in his head. 

HYDRA. Maybe this was one of their many tests. They had tested him a lot at the beginning. He didn’t know why testing him was more important than completing this mission but as always that wasn’t for him to know. But the man in the suit didn’t seem like his previous handlers. The man in the suit seemed to genuinely want to help him. The Asset believed that. But why would anyone care about or want to help him? 

The man in the suit was named Stark. Stark he knew that name. A mission, the Starks. A snowy night. Shooting out the tires. A man with a mustache pleading with him. The man knew him. Called him Barnes too. He choked his wife then bashed the man’s head in on the steering wheel. December 16th, 1991. 

The man in the suit collapsed to his knees. He sounded like he was crying. People sometimes cried before Asset killed them but the Asset was not going to kill the man in the suit. The man in the suit was intelligent, skilled enough to keep up with him in combat. The man in the suit had to know that it was not the Asset’s mission to kill him. He didn’t understand. What the hell was happening? 

The man in the suit started firing at him again. He dodged the beams and was escaping but was stopped in his tracks by a new memory. He remembered his mission, an older Howard Stark begging him to spare his wife’s life. But he also remembered, a younger Stark laughing at him and toasting him with champagne. It had tasted terrible. 

The man in the suit was looking at him, weapon aimed and ready to fire but not shooting at him just yet. The Asset didn’t understand. He had a clear shot and the Asset was doing nothing to defend himself

Suddenly, a splitting headache made him grasp his head in pain. More snippets of memories he didn’t know he had flitted through his head. A smaller version of the man on the bridge featured heavily in most of them. He felt euphoric. He finally had memories. He finally had some information about who he was.

He made a split-second decision to not complete the mission. He took a few teetering steps away from the building, feeling nauseous at the thought of not completing the mission, but weathered on putting distance between him and the mission. The man in the suit was silently watching him. Letting him escape. He felt giddy at his luck. He couldn't be HYDRA. HYDRA would not lose their most valuable asset, especially when they trained him on how to completely disappear.

He broke into a run, ignoring the compulsion to complete the mission, and making it into the cover of the greenery from which he came. He needed time to sort out all the images in his head. To understand what the man on the bridge and the man in the suit meant. Despite the unrelenting headache, he was feeling the best he had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pierce didn’t wipe the Winter Soldier because he’s heard about the quiet cleanup of hydra in SHIELD and has bigger things to deal with like getting Project Insight off the ground. (He doesn’t know Tony already disabled everything).
> 
> Yea I'm writing this as Bucky has been trying to resist HYDRA for years despite their conditioning wiping out everything about his past/ his sense of self. the alternative is too depressing. 
> 
> next chapter is Bucky figuring out things.


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky POV

Right after the fight, he had reverted to survival, fight or flight response constantly going off at any small noise or movement. He had gone to ground. Untraceable. Ignoring Hydra and the world for a bit while trying to get his head on straight. Meanwhile he was also being hit with a barrage of images at random throughout the day. The man in the images sounded like him but it didn’t quite feel like him. He felt like watching a film of someone’s life, familiar not quite his own. 

His most salient thought during those first few days was that he never wanted to go back. He did not want to be the Asset anymore. He didn’t know what he would do now but that was irrelevant. Everybody had called him Bucky, maybe he could be Bucky again. 

He no longer feared his handlers. He was too well trained to be found by them and he had learned that Pierce had been arrested. Hydra had been exposed it seemed. And soon, he had gathered that the intermittent stream of images were flashbacks. Memories from before his time with Hydra, when he was James Barnes or “Bucky” to his friends. The longer he was away from cryosleep, the less his head hurt and the better he felt. He could think for himself and think clearly. He recognized that there was something wrong with his head. Something that hydra had did.

He was having the clearest thoughts he had had in years. He was learning more about himself. He learned how he had fallen into Hydra’s hands using the internet. Jesus Christ, Barnes. He. He had fallen off a train. And the gaps in the history websites were filled in by his own personal movie theater in his head. 

But despite the ever-expanding set of memories, he didn’t feel like James Barnes. But more importantly, he didn’t quite feel like the Asset anymore either. 

Everybody had called him Bucky, both in the past and the present. He thought Bucky was an absurd name. It wasn’t even a name and he couldn’t believe that this person he supposedly was a lifetime ago had gone by it for so long. 

But the absurdity made him laugh and he figured he needed to call himself something. Bucky was just as good as anything else. He wasn’t the Asset anymore and he hadn’t been war hero James Barnes in a very long time. But he wanted to become someone again. Someone good who had friends that gave him the dumbest nickname imaginable. 

Bucky kept busy researching the man on the bridge (Steve) and the man in the suit (Tony). He kept tabs on Steve because he was curious about the man that was in all of his memories of before. He knew the little Steve. He was familiar and reminded him of home. This modern day Steve seemed different than the little one but was hellbent on taking down Hydra bases or finding him. Bucky honestly couldn’t tell. He was fairly confident Steve would never find him the way he was currently going. 

Tony on the other hand did not feel familiar like Steve, but Bucky could tell he was kind. He replayed the events of their encounter countless times. Tony deescalated and was trying to help him even though Bucky had been fully in deadly assassin mode. Tony tried to listen to him and talked to him with respect. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time somebody talked to him like that. Whenever he closed his eyes, he found himself imaging the man in the suit. 

In between his research, Bucky stayed on the move, at first out of paranoia, and later because there were people out looking for him. They were doing a piss poor job of it, but nonetheless, someone had noticed his absence and was doing something about it. Poorly trained private investigators trying to tail him. He always lost them, but it made him wary enough to change where he slept every week. 

He found himself watching compilation videos of the Iron Man suit: flying around NYC, fighting aliens, visiting hospitals. Then that turned into regularly looking into what Tony was doing. Tony frequently appeared at charity galas across the country in tailored suits driving expensive cars that made Bucky's face flush. 

Tony Stark was richer than God and had countless resources at his fingertips. He was probably the one sending people to follow him. That’s why Bucky was doing all this extra light reading on him. Not because he was easy on the eyes or because Bucky felt like Tony was the only person on this planet that accepted him for what he was. The only one that had tried to help him even though they were in the middle of a downright brutal fight. The person that he owed his newfound freedom to, who had stopped fighting him and let him escape unscathed. 

He hoped the people tailing him were sent by Tony. He didn’t know what he wanted yet but he’d rather not be snatched up by another organization that forced him to be a weapon while he was figuring it out. If some shady organization was stalking him, maybe Tony could help him. He allowed himself a little hysterical laugh. A guy could dream right. 

Bucky made his way to NYC where Tony spent most of his time. There was plenty of anonymity in a crowd, he told himself, he didn’t go all the way to New York because he was hoping to see the Iron Man. 

Over time, the throngs of tourists made him bold. Bucky riskily even went as far as visiting a Captain America exhibit in a museum to see his old uniform. But halfway through the trip, he was on high alert. He hadn’t been followed on foot he was sure of that, but he felt watched. He had made sure to stand in the blind spots of the cameras but when he scanned the room for the source of his unsettlement, he saw all the cameras in the room turned towards him. Bucky pulled his hat down over his face and quickly exited the building, noticing the cameras turning to follow him across the room.

He felt on edge. He had gotten too complacent with the bumbling detectives trying to follow him and somehow, somewhere had slipped up. He had a habit of avoiding cameras but it was quite hard to hide from cameras if they were actively following your every move. Bucky became hyperaware of the crowd’s camera lenses glinting in the light. In store fronts. In the hands of locals and tourists alike. Whoever was looking for him certainly knew he was in New York now. All of his training was screaming at him to have left 5 minutes ago. But he found himself not wanting to leave New York yet. He was tired of running and this bustling city had started to feel like home. Well he had already made one stupid decision today, what was another?

As he strode away from the museum, he saw Stark Tower, the tallest building in the city. He swung by his hideout, grabbing what he could carry and made his way into the building across from Stark Tower. Bucky was determined to figure out once and for all if Tony Stark was the one watching him. And what was his brilliant plan you might ask? Bucky was going to watch him back. 

It wasn’t great but if Tony was watching him, Bucky would know for sure pretty soon. And if it wasn’t, he could only hope Tony in the Iron Man suit could come to his rescue in time when he was only a building away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay less sadness, more personality for Bucky. Tony POV next.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony’s POV

In that moment, Tony decided he was done with it all. Was done with SHIELD for nurturing HYDRA. Covering up his parents’ murders. He had to find out the truth by accident from a mentally unstable assassin with a kill count longer than that of the Black Widow. After he had effectively ended the fight by falling to his knees and the Winter Soldier had retreated to god knows where, JARVIS had taken control of the suit and sent him back to the Tower, intermittently asking him how he was doing and just listening. Jarvis didn’t even bother sending a communication to Fury and made Tony unreachable by everyone other than Pepper and Rhodey. Tony had never seen his AI so pissed off. But their anger felt righteous and energizing. He was going to tear SHIELD to its very foundations and throw all their skeletons out of the closet for the vultures to see. 

They wouldn’t get the data dump they wanted, overwhelming with sheer information. He was going to slowly release it, ensuring the worst of their secrets made it to the daytime news cycle. 

How dare they. Howard bankrolled SHIELD. Peggy Carter was a family friend. Hell, Stark Industries still quietly supported SHIELD to this day. 

As soon as he had gotten home, he had a frank conversation with Jarvis, ranting about SHIELD’s actions and how he would get back at them, Jarvis and he coming up with increasingly petty ways to fuck over Fury and co. In retrospect, Tony didn’t think Jarvis was joking about making all technology around Fury malfunction. 

Pepper and Rhodey were en route and Happy had already commandeered the legal team to separate Stark Industries from SHIELD and wreak destruction in the legal realm. 

Then, Tony blew up all the scrap metal he had, JARVIS actually cheering him on for once. And once there were no more words and nothing else to destroy he broke down into tears again. A wound he had thought he had healed and protected had been ripped wide open. It wasn’t fair. To him, to his parents, hell even to Barnes. 

Tony felt nothing towards Barnes except for pity. There was no strategic gain from having the Winter Soldier drop that bombshell secret and runaway from the fight. Nobody had been assassinated that day so it was safe to assume that Barnes hadn’t completed his mission. Tony had no idea what kind of torture was needed to break a person to nothing but he was sure he’d find it in the SHIELD files. But that was a task for another day.

A few weeks after SHIELD had fallen, Tony had finished overseeing and extracting undercover former SHIELD agents and their families. Most of them had come to work for Stark Industries, especially after they found out that it was thanks to Tony that they hadn’t been exposed by the higherups in an attempt to overwhelm the media with everything that was happening. Jarvis, Rhodey, and Happy had been going through the SHIELD files with a manic energy, regularly releasing the sordid details of Hydra and Shield’s unregulated reign. Pepper had spearheaded the legal effort and kept the media away from Tony, which he was eternally thankful to her for. 

The first media circus after their deaths had been too much for him then. He couldn’t imagine the second one would be any better. Tony successfully managed to evade the paparazzi and eventually the Starks’ murders were old news. But then after a gala, he was accosted by Natasha and Steve as he was making his way over to Happy. 

“Tony, you’re a hard man to track down. We haven’t been able to get in touch with you at all since SHIELD fell.” Natasha began.

“How could you just leave in the middle of a fight? You left Sam by himself”, Steve loudly interrupted, and was elbowed in the solar plexus for his efforts.

“Well when a HYDRA assassin tells you he killed your parents and you realize the very organization your family has supported since its inception was the one to cover it up…” Tony trailed off, taking in his colleagues’ reactions. 

Natasha’s face went from an almost imperceptible schooled blank to surprise but Tony immediately caught on. He wore more masks than her and did a better job of it. Fury had definitely known and unsurprisingly she had too, even before Barnes had blabbed. 

Steve was much more of an open book. He looked like he had sucked on a lemon. That threw Tony for a loop. That was rich, their fearless leader that lauded communication above all else had kept a secret. 

Tony face Steve. “You knew even before the data dump! What the fuck Steve? You say Howard was your friend and yet you didn’t think to tell me that he was murdered? No, I had to find out from your Hydra bestie while he had a mental breakdown in the middle of a battle. And you people have the audacity to show up here and insult me.”

“It wasn’t Bucky’s fault! Hydra did something to him. I should have been the one to approach him not you. Then none of this would have happened. I would have been able to talk to him and help him remember who he is. I need to find him!” Steve yelled desperately.

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Happy called out. “If you want to talk with Mr. Stark, you can schedule an appointment like everyone else.

Natasha had a slight pinched expression on her face. Tony didn’t spare them another look as he turned away from them and got into his car. The entire ride home, Happy complained about how they, his supposed teammates, had cornered Tony like that. Tony agreed, their approach had been stupid, and he didn’t even have any idea what they had hoped to accomplish from their little ambush. 

Happy had laughed uproariously at that. “Money, boss. I bet they were going to ask for your financial support no strings attached.” He paused, “For SHIELD? No that makes too much sense and that Rogers is delusional.”

Tony let out a genuine snort at that. Happy continued, “I wouldn’t put it past him to have asked you for money to track down your parents’ murderer without telling you.”

“If I could interrupt, sirs, I’ve found some concerning information about how Sergeant Barnes became the Winter Soldier.”

Tony spent the rest of the night reading in excruciating detail how HYDRA broke James Barnes down until there was nothing left and brainwashed him into being a mindless weapon. Rinse and repeat. It was horrifying and Tony felt a little guilty for not making more of an effort to bring the Winter Soldier in. 

Tony decided it was better late than never to try to find him and help him, having JARVIS compile a list of the best PIs across the country.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this is a chapter, not the best, not the worst. some plot. next chapter will have bucky being soft.
> 
> I'd like to think Nat smacked Steve in the back of the head after Tony left. Sam is cool with Tony and wouldn't be down to get Tony to fund a scavenger hunt to find his parents' murderer. nat's also there to get support for the new shield fury's trying to get going.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who comments and leaves kudos, you guys are amazing <3


	6. Chapter 6

Bucky POV

Bucky had almost immediately confirmed that Tony had been the one sending the PIs. He had been surveilling Tony for a few weeks now. Public appearances were the easiest. Open air, plenty of different buildings and angles to watch from. And he got to see the sleek cars and fancy suits in person! Albeit, through a lens and from quite a distance. When Tony was in his tower, it was easiest to keep track of what he was doing when he was in the penthouse. He disappeared for hours each day. Bucky could only see his life in snippets. It was oddly fitting. Bucky also only saw his own life in snippets.

The stream of memories of James Barnes seemed to be complete and been replaced by the much less fun stream of memories of his years as the Winter Soldier. During the day, he remembered bits of memories of his time with Hydra that they had wiped. He was starting to see the people he had murdered in his dreams. Snippets, all snippets. But he much preferred getting glimpses of Tony than reliving the past 70 years.

Tony spent most of his time alone in the Tower. The only people who would visit him were his driver, the redhead, and another man with a different suit. They were close to him. The redhead, Pepper Potts, ran his company and had dated him for a bit. She was always getting him to sign papers and lightheartedly smacking him while laughing. She would often sit on the couch and take off her heels next to Tony, the both of them working in a companionable silence. The other man with the suit, James Rhodes, worked for the Air Force but more importantly dragged Tony from unseen parts of the building to have regular meals. He made Tony laugh until he had doubled over and had tears streaming down his face. And on occasion, he and Tony would drink until they were falling over. Their camaraderie made Bucky feel warm and happy despite being a building over. He wished he could have met Tony's friends. Wished he could somehow have been lucky enough to befriend Tony. 

Mornings were Bucky’s favorites. Every morning, Tony would come into the penthouse looking adorably ruffled and chug an obscene amount of coffee. His hair messy, shuffling around the penthouse slowly until he got his caffeine. 

When Tony was in the penthouse, Bucky sometimes was able to read his lips. He would talk to someone unseen named Jarvis daily. Bucky wondered who Jarvis was. He couldn’t find anything online about him, except for info about a deceased butler, and had yet to see him. But Tony would always animatedly talk to him, often while gesturing wildly or working on a Starkpad.

He was a good man. A hardworking man. It seemed like he didn’t eat enough, and he definitely didn’t sleep enough. Tony would sometimes fall asleep on the couch while doodling on a StarkPad. He did charity work. And he went out in the suit with alarming frequency for someone who was unenhanced, regularly putting his health and life at risk being a hero and protecting New York.

Bucky was simultaneously fond of him but also knew that he wasn’t good enough for a man like Tony Stark. His parents’ murderer. Hydra assassin. Dissociated WW2 soldier. Guy with a metal arm that hadn’t worked right since the battle where he was fighting against Tony with his all. 

The man who was currently searching for him. It was time to be honest with himself, Tony was likely searching for him to turn Bucky in to the authorities, to put him away in a deep dark hole where he’d never see light of day again. Because Tony was a hero and Bucky was many fragmented things haphazardly put together but mostly an assassin. He still slept with a gun in his hands. He scoped out the exits of every place he entered. Ever since the incident with the phones he had avoided cameras. And he was good at what he did. He was surveilling Stark and hadn’t been found out yet. 

And as he had more and more nightmares of the people he had brutally murdered and flashbacks to how his handlers had broken him over and over again during the years, Bucky felt he deserved to be in jail. He felt guilty for all the death and suffering and destruction he had caused, even if it wasn’t completely voluntary. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to be locked up in prison. 

His mind kept replaying his only interaction with Stark, how Stark had broken down in the middle of a battle after finding out Bucky had murdered his parents. He wouldn’t mind going to prison, letting Tony get his justice and get some closure. Bucky still had his mind and that’s all he really needed. And it would be nice to stop running and always be looking over his shoulder.

Of course, reality didn’t stop him from dreaming about Tony and fantasizing about what would never come to pass. Dreams about kissing Tony, holding his hand, hanging onto his arm at galas dressed to the nines and giving a dazzling smile as the cameras flashed. Welcome respites from his nightmares of fear and blood. And when Tony wasn’t in sight and Bucky wasn’t reading the news or remembering how he was at the mercy of Hydra he fantasized about meeting Tony at a coffee shop or being one of the people he saved in the suit. Meeting him in a way that wasn’t so traumatic and where Bucky could actually have a chance to say I like you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today was a bad mental health day for me so this reflects that. it does technically have Bucky being soft tho. 
> 
> Tony and Bucky will meet in the next chapter


	7. Chapter 7

JARVIS POV

Sometimes Jarvis believed that his maker forgot that he was programmed to look out for Sir’s best interests. Sir was many things generous, intelligent, humble to a fault but cautious he was not. So after hearing nothing useful from the multitude of PIs they had hired to track down the Winter Soldier, each one calling in from different states across the country, Jarvis decided to take things into his own hands, so to speak. Jarvis rarely felt uneasy but the Winter Soldier unsettled him.

It wasn’t difficult to infiltrate security footage in the Soldier’s last known location and run facial recognition until he got hits. Jarvis had found him. He was in New York City. If he had had a heart, he would have clutched it in fear. 

Jarvis immediately devoted a large part of his processing power to monitoring live security feeds, hoping to find the Hydra operative. The wildcard who had killed Sir’s parents. The likely threat to Sir’s safety. Brainwashed or not, he was dangerous and likely to be dangerous to Sir. 

It was admirable that Sir had enough compassion and sympathy to want to reach out to help Barnes but there wasn’t enough data to conclude if there was any of Barnes was left or if he even wanted any help. And there definitely wasn’t enough data to assess the Soldier’s intentions and loyalties. 

Finally, after several weeks of monitoring, he got a hit on facial recognition. The Winter Soldier was visiting an exhibit of his past life, anonymous in the crowd of tourists. He made eye contact with one of the cameras then quickly slipped out the exit. 

Jarvis could not let that happen. He needed to learn more about the Winter Soldier to learn if he was a threat to Sir. 

Sir had come home that day of their fight bleeding from stab wounds, ribs broken, bruises littering his body, and emotionally devastated. That Mark was so damaged Sir had to build a new one from scratch. And that had been the Winter Soldier fighting when he was compromised. He was not to be underestimated. 

So in a last desperate attempt, Jarvis went Skynet as Sir would say. He entered the cameras of all nearby Starkphones and watched as the Winter Soldier silently but purposefully retreated. Jarvis lost him on the street of Stark Tower and never found him again. 

Tony POV

Tony felt watched. Not the reassuring constant presence of Jarvis but something else entirely. He never saw any paparazzi or drones but he always felt someone looking. And he knew it wasn’t paparazzi when he had Jarvis leak his location at a restaurant across the city and the feeling didn’t even waver. Maybe it was stress. 

Ever since Steve put his foot in his mouth, Tony had been in a funk. Objectively, he knew the Avengers were done. He had even gone so far to inform Bruce and Clint of it. But emotionally? Mentally? He kept getting stuck on it. 

Another betrayal to add to his collection. How long would Steve and Nat have kept his parents’ murders a secret? Would they have actually used his money to track down his parents’ killer?

A call out of the blue from Sam said yes, that’s exactly what they were planning. Tony didn’t understand how Steve could do that to him. Nat, it was in her very nature, it couldn’t be helped. She didn’t have a caring bone in her body, he told himself. (But she cared for Steve, a voice inside his head hissed. She chose Steve over you).

But Steve, he had no words for other than what the actual fuck. What had Tony done to deserve such treatment? It wasn’t that Steve was so socially stunted by the ice to not consider others’ feelings because he WAS capable of considering Nat and Sam’s feelings. It was that Steve had made an absolute decision to throw whatever friendship they had out the window, whether he realized it yet or not. 

Tony had been trying to keep busy since that incident. He had destroyed SHIELD and was working on ways to help Barnes. But late at night when his hands shook from overuse and he felt tired but not like sleeping quite yet he would go sit in the penthouse with his feet up on the coffee table questioning how he had gotten here. 

What was it about him that invited betrayals? That invited the wrong people over and over again and was left with the same pattern over and over again. Was something wrong with him for this to keep happening? What was he doing wrong? Somebody would come into his life, burrow themselves in it, wrong him, then Tony would destroy them. Same soup just reheated. 

Tony had gotten wind of a document called the NYC accords. It was in the early stages of drafting, only a dozen or so countries were involved so far but Tony propelled it from behind the scenes while vilifying SHIELD in the press, asking for accountability so something like HYDRA could never happen again on their soil. He questioned the intentions behind why the Avengers were founded. Revealed the manipulations when he had been dying of palladium poisoning.  
He let it slip that Fury was alive. 

He was doing okay despite everything. He made BARF, processed his parents’ deaths without alcohol this time. And through it all he was being watched. Jarvis knew about it and disapproved of his inaction. Jarvis had wanted to send every available suit to comb through the city for any threats. But not only did Tony not feel the need to, he also did believe in the Accords. At first it had just been a fuck you to Fury but it had the potential to do a lot of good. Prevent the destruction instead of spending years and billions to clean it up. 

So he never investigated who was watching him. He was content to wait and see what they wanted. He was more than capable of defending himself and nobody could get into his labs except for his own. Instead late at night when there was nothing left to do but not quite time to do nothing he would talk about the unseen eyes with Jarvis. His own lovely stress induced paranoid delusion.

He wasn’t sinless enough to have a guardian angel but the gaze was almost reassuring in its consistency. He didn’t feel threatened by it even though Jarvis definitely did, Jarvis going so far to snark that he had never felt threatened by Steve or Nat either. 

And then one day when he went to deal with evil robots rampaging through Times Square he felt the gaze leave the Tower with him. That was odd. It had never left the Tower with him before.

As he blasted robots away with repulsors he saw a black shadow absolutely pulverizing everything in its path. The dark figure moved at an uncanny speed, pulling apart robots with his bare hands. Firing rapidly at approaching robots and quickly cutting a swathe to where the robots’ creator was now shaking in fear instead of maniacally laughing. The long haired figure knocked out the latest villain of the day with the butt of his gun, then turned around, finally still. 

And Tony understood. It had been the Winter Soldier. It had been James Bucky Barnes watching him all this time. He didn’t know whether to laugh at finally having found him or to be relieved that the Winter Soldier hadn’t decided to kill him when he had fallen asleep on the couch the last dozen times or so. 

Bucky walked towards Tony, dropping his gun and raising his hands as nonthreateningly as someone who looked like him could. 

It didn’t seem like the Winter Soldier was back with Hydra but once bitten twice shy. Tony waited, gauntlets ready, but not aimed. Not willing to spook him just yet. Tony wanted to know what he wanted. 

Voice rough, Bucky began, “I’m sorry for being the one who killed your parents. I’m sorry that you had to find out like that. I deserve to go to jail, you can arrest me and I’ll come peacefully. I just don’t want to cause any pain anymore.” His voice broke at the end. 

Tony just stared at him, a long silence stretching between them. Making a split second decision, he flipped up the helmet of the suit then stepped out of it completely ignoring Jarvis’s panicked yells. Bucky took a step back, startled. 

“I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault. And I don’t think you deserve to go to jail. I think you need help.” He stepped closer, “I know you’ve been watching me for a while now. Hydra’s Winter Soldier wouldn’t have hesitated to put a bullet between my eyes. But you’re not him are you.”

“I’m not James Barnes either. I don’t think I’ll ever be.”

“Never said you were. I think you deserve to be safe enough to figure out who you are and what now.

Tears started streaming down Bucky’s face. 

“Come back to the Tower with me. You’ll be safe there.” He outstretched his arm. 

“Okay.” Bucky nodded, placing his metal hand in Tony’s. 

Tony slowly moved closer, telegraphing his movements, “I’m going to hug you now. Don’t headbutt me or anything. It hurt a lot the last time you did that.”

Tony heard broken laughter through small sobs as he hugged Bucky, rubbing his back. And finally Bucky returned the hug, leaning into Tony, sobs wracking his body. 

“I need help,” Bucky admitted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there might be errors haven't read over it yet. didn't study today just wrote this :)
> 
> this will be longer, number of chapters will likely go up, still have some plot in me left for this story. 
> 
> jarvis made a surprise appearance, had a lot of fun writing him. 
> 
> Is Tony in character?
> 
> Bucky pov next


	8. Chapter 8

Bucky POV

Bucky wanted Tony to be safe and feel safe. That’s why when Iron Man yet again left the tower to deal with some random villain of the week, he followed. And he fought. 

He fought for himself and for Tony who unwittingly allowed him to save himself. It felt good to be in control. He was good at fighting, even before Hydra’s control. It was good to be fighting to save people instead of killing them. 

Then, Tony was suddenly there in the suit, standing overwhelmingly close. Bucky apologized, like how he had practiced, mentally preparing to be imprisoned. And Tony, ever the one to act unpredictably in combat situations stepped out of the suit. 

Bucky couldn’t believe what was happening. How could Tony Stark be this good? 

Then, Tony told him he was going to hug him and did. The smaller man wrapped his arms around him and he eventually buried his head into Tony’s shoulders. He felt Tony’s warmth and the thrumming of his arc reactor. The hug was nice. He was bawling like a baby. Christ he was a mess. But the hug was over too soon though Bucky supposed he was insanely lucky to have even gotten one in the first place. It was unreal. He had never expected to actually meet Tony, let alone be invited into his home.

Bucky got to hold on to the suit as Tony flew them back to the Tower. He let out several whoops of joy. The future was here. 

Tony only took that as encouragement and looped around the sky, going high and diving close to the streets. It was exhilarating and better than anything Bucky could have dreamed up. Tony was so one of a kind, they had just met and Tony didn’t act like he was a ticking timebomb even though he was. Even though Bucky wanted him to be more cautious for his own sake. 

As soon as they got to the Tower, Tony introduced him to Jarvis, who turned out to be an artificial intelligence program with a British accent that Tony had invented. No wonder Tony talked to him all the time, Jarvis was sharp as a tack with just the right amount of sarcasm. If Tony hadn’t told him, Bucky would have thought Jarvis was a real person. 

Tony showed him to a tastefully decorated guest room on the floor of the penthouse. It had an incredible view of the NYC skyline. Both familiar and thrillingly new with the glass skyscrapers in every direction the eye could see. He stood in silence just taking it all in. His new living situation so different and better in all ways than what he had been imagining. 

“I take it you like the room. So have you had dinner yet?” Tony asked.

Bucky nodded no, not trusting himself to speak yet. He daydreamed about Tony all the time but now that he was here he felt awkward and nervous. He had never thought he would actually manage to get to know Tony. He just wanted Tony to like him, even if only as a friend.

“Does pizza sound good?” Tony asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. Bucky nodded in agreement. “What toppings do you want? Wait do you have supersoldier metabolism too? I’ll just get one of everything then. Jarvis, can you place an order at that place I like?”

“Placed sir”, Jarvis replied. 

Bucky hadn’t even noticed they’d walked from his new room back to the penthouse, he had been so enthralled by Tony’s stream of consciousness. 

Ever since he had stepped foot in the tower he had felt like he was floating. Bucky couldn’t believe that he was in Tony’s penthouse after so many weeks of being on the other side of it. He had even pinched himself to make sure this wasn’t some elaborately long dream. 

He went to the floor to ceiling windows of the penthouse and looked out at the building across where he’d been surveilling Tony from earlier. 

“Is that where you were watching me from?” Tony asked suddenly, surprising him.

Bucky felt his face heat up. Well at least the man was direct. “You knew where I was this entire time? Yeah, most recently. I changed places every week.” He winced at how that sounded. 

“Tactful as always sir” Jarvis piped up. 

Tony made an affronted noise. “I was curious, sue me. And besides if it hadn’t been him, we need to know so we can investigate.” 

“You didn’t know it was me and you didn’t check? Even knowing that I was on the loose and how dangerous I am? Knowing how many enemies you have?” Bucky replied in a strained voice. 

“I repeatedly told Sir to but he ignored me Mr. Barnes,” Jarvis said in an annoyed voice.

“I would have checked eventually but I didn’t want to scare the general populace with Iron Man suits flying everywhere in the city, which is what would have happened if Jarvis had it his way. I didn’t think it was anything to worry about because someone had been there for weeks and nothing had happened. And because you didn’t immediately try to assassinate me after our battle. And besides even if you had tried, the Tower is pretty safe against outside attack.”

Jarvis remained silent. Bucky felt that if Jarvis had eyes, he would be giving Tony an exasperated look. 

“But seriously no hard feelings about the surveillance. We did send all those private investigators after you. This is your new home for as long as you want it and I want you to be comfortable here. We only sent the PIs after to you to see if you needed help after that fight and make sure Hydra didn’t capture you again.”

“And I went Skynet”, Jarvis chimed in.

“And Jarvis went—wait what?” Tony replied, an incredulous expression on his face. 

As Jarvis explained how he had hacked all cameras to track Barnes and Tony equal parts praised and berated him, Bucky couldn’t help but laugh. He had been right to be paranoid. In the future, he would also make sure to never get on Jarvis’s bad side. And he had his work cut out for him, he needed to get to know Jarvis better and convince him that he wasn’t here to hurt Tony. The opposite really. 

He had been right to turn himself in, albeit for the wrong reasons. Tony hadn’t wanted revenge or punishment, he had simply wanted to help. (And to avoid Hydra getting back its greatest weapon.) However, as smart as Tony was, he was too trusting. Bucky was going to give Jarvis some suggestions about how to make the Tower safer. 

Being here was going to be good for him he could already tell. He felt like he finally had a purpose in his newly regained life. To help this man. To help himself and atone for his sins. To just exist without running away or looking over his shoulder. To finally live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am back. Was studying for a board exam and now that's finally done which is a huge relief. 
> 
> It took me such a long time to write this but hey a done chapter is better than a perfect chapter. the rest of the story, there's going to be some cute sappy shit and some conflict so stay tuned. 
> 
> And thanks as always for reading! :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Tony's POV**

This was good, Tony had Bucky, the longest running POW and also Hydra’s greatest weapon, safe and secure. Bucky deserved a place to land and Tony was also ensuring the Winter Soldier wouldn’t be turned on anyone else. He felt good about this even though Jarvis’s judgement was palpable. Tony didn’t deserve a guardian angel but Bucky sure did, the man had been through hell. 

God, how was he going to explain this to Pepper? He could already see her face, eyebrows raised, nose pinched, looking incredulously at him. He couldn’t even take care of a houseplant, how was he supposed to nurture a supersoldier out of time. Tony knew when to admit he was way out of depth. So he called Sam. 

Sam was good people. Sam cared about him even though they barely knew each other. The phone call where Sam had divulged Steve’s bullshit had cemented that in Tony’s mind. Sam worked with veterans and that alone made him much more qualified than Tony to try to figure out a plan to deal with all the trauma Bucky undoubtedly hand. And if Sam turned out to be a deep cover Hydra agent all along, well Tony would drink one of DUM-E’ smoothies without checking for motor oil first. 

And because he didn’t want to think about how Sam too would probably yell at him for adopting a dangerous supersoldier while waiting for a response, he went to his lab. 

He asked Bucky if he wanted his arm fixed, knowing damn well it was all sorts of fucked up from their fight and it had to be hurting him. Bucky to his surprise had immediately agreed. 

When Bucky had entered the lab, Tony knew he had unwittingly made the right choice for both of them. Bucky’s entire body language changed when he entered the lab. Bucky’s face lit up as he saw the bots roll out of their various nooks, eager to meet the new guest. And Bucky had melted into their advances, legs splayed on the floor, petting them with as much enthusiasm as one would pet a dog. 

The bots were all chirping happily. Bucky was smiling and Tony found himself grinning from ear to ear too. He didn’t know how but he was going to make this work. He was determined to.

“Move along, move along, you’ll have more time to bother Bucky later. He’s a guest,” he chided the bots. They beeped in excitement but eventually left enough space for Bucky to get up and look delighted all over again. 

Bucky was staring in awe at some of his holographic designs for Stark Industries so Tony had Jarvis pull some more designs up, separating them into their components, spinning them, and tossing them over to a surprised Bucky. Bucky was marveling at everything in the lab, peering at prototypes and staring inquisitively at various tools while Tony explained what they did. 

By the time they actually sat down for Tony to fix Bucky’s metal arm, Tony’s face hurt from smiling so much.

**Bucky’s POV**

So this is where Tony disappeared to when Bucky hadn’t been able to see him. His lab. His inner sanctuary where he built the Iron Man suit and ran his billion dollar company. 

Now that Bucky was seeing it, he couldn’t blame Tony for spending all of his time down here. Bucky had a memory where he had been excited to see a hovering car at the Stark Expo. Tony’s lab was lightyears ahead of flying cars and he felt the same thrill of excitement he had in the memory as he explored the lab. And Tony. Tony was everything. 

He explained everything to Bucky without prompting. He joked and quipped and generally made Bucky’s heart rate speed up without even trying. He was charming and dashing and a blur of energy. He made Bucky feel at ease. 

Bucky didn’t even know he could feel relaxed until he was sinking onto a leather stool and watching Tony dissect his arm as if it were a particularly captivating movie instead of it being the first person other than Hydra techs to service his arm ever. 

Tony explained everything he was doing while praising him for being still and doing nothing. Bucky felt warmed by the praise anyways. Tony was in the zone, and other than a few jolts of pain, the entire process was smooth, and his arm was fixed in no time at all. 

Bucky didn’t want to leave the lab yet so he asked Tony about the future of science and had him fill in the gaps about how far science had progressed during his captivity in Hydra. They end up sitting on a well worn couch, Bucky tossing a tennis ball every once in a while for Dum-E to fetch, and eventually Bucky finds himself drinking a smoothie that Jarvis assures him is safe. 

Then Sam calls and some of the levity in the lab disappears. He talks about getting psychologists and neurologists for Bucky. He brings up Steve Rogers. 

Sam asks Bucky point blank, “You know Steve’s looking for you right? He’s been destroying Hydra bases left and right to find you. How do you feel about that?”

How did Bucky feel about that? His gut feeling was that Steve was important, but the hypervigilance in him that kept him alive told him this new Steve was dangerous. He was hellbent on getting back James Barnes when James Barnes barely existed anymore. And the way Tony stiffened when Sam brought his name up made him feel secure in his decision. 

“I don’t want him to find me. He wants a version of me. I just want to get better and never hurt anybody again.”

“Of course, man. I won’t tell him you’re with Stark.”

The conversation takes a more serious bent. 

Tony says, “If you ever change your mind and want to meet with him, we can arrange that. I care about you and your recovery enough to suck it up and deal with him if needed.”

What had happened between Steve and Tony? Bucky hadn’t even considered that they might not get along. They had worked together in the past as Avengers. 

Bucky’s face must have revealed his thoughts because Tony groaned, “Of course you don’t know, how would you?” 

He sighed. “And just to let you know I don’t blame you at all. I blame Hydra for my parents’ deaths. But Steve. He knew. He knew they weren’t in a car accident. And he didn’t tell me. I don’t think he ever would have given the opportunity.” 

Tony paused, “I mean he’s been my teammate for years but I had to find out from you when you were on the enemy’s side. You told me the truth when you didn’t even have your head on straight! No offense.”

“Well I think Steve has his head up his ass.” Bucky instantly replied. 

Tony let out a surprised laugh. 

“No seriously, a guy like you, you could do anything you set your mind to. If he had told you, you would have been able to shut down Hydra that much quicker.” 

Tony had broken eye contact and was looking away, fidgeting. 

“Well said Mr. Barnes”, Jarvis interjected, startling him. 

There was no doubt about it that Tony was helping Bucky, but Bucky was going to do his darndest to support Tony however he could too.


End file.
